Danny Danon takes up post as vice president of global body's main policy-making and deliberation forum

President of the UN General Assembly Miroslav Lajcak, left, with Vice President of the UN General Assembly Danny Danon, who is Israel's ambassador to the global body. (Foreign Ministry)

Israel’s Ambassador to the United Nations Danny Danon has taken up the position of Vice President of the UN General Assembly, his bureau said Wednesday, and he will preside over the assembly when Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu speaks there next week.

Netanyahu is due to address the UN on September 19 during the annual gathering of world leaders at the 72nd session of the General Assembly.

In May, Danon was elected to a one-year term as vice president. He will preside over General Assembly meetings, play a role in setting the Assembly’s agenda, as well as “oversee rules and decorum during sessions,” the statement said.

Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu addresses the 71st session of United Nations General Assembly at the UN headquarters in New York on September 22, 2016. (AFP/Jewel Samad)

“I am proud to represent Israel in this important role that reinforces our position as an equal partner at the UN,” Danon said. “We have proven once again that there is no role we cannot fulfill in the world’s most important international organization.”

There are 21 vice presidents of the General Assembly. Former Israeli ambassador to the UN, Ron Prosor, also served in the role in 2012.

In May 2016, Danon became the first Israeli diplomat to chair the UNGA’s legal committee, the Sixth Committee, with 109 member states. He is the first Israeli to chair a permanent committee at the UN.

Israel has a fraught relationship with the UN, frequently accusing it of bias against the Jewish state.

Slovak Minister of Foreign and European Affairs Miroslav Lajcak serves as president of the UN General Assembly.

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